Chapter Twenty-Four
Rip
I took her hand in mine as we walked. It was a risk, given we were in her family house and could be seen at any time, but I took it anyway. She was my mate, and I needed to start letting her know that.
Laurie glanced down at the touch, but she didn’t fight me on it or make it difficult. Instead, she spread her fingers, letting my much larger hand swallow hers.
“We can talk in here,” she suggested, gesturing toward an arched entryway into a room full of chairs and sofas. A lounge of some sort.
“No.” I shook my head.
“No?” Laurie questioned. “Why not? Do you no longer want to talk?”
“I’ll talk to you until the sun rises,” I told her. “But I don’t want to just talk.”
“Rip …”
“This is a large house. You must have a game room of sorts, no?”
She relaxed, realizing what I’d meant by doing more than talking. Not that I would clue her in that I had hope for that as well. I could tell her body was already coming alive just from our holding hands. Her breathing was a little shallower, and her heart was beating a hair faster as well.
Just like mine. I had to continually flex my stomach and quads simultaneously to try to drain off some blood from my cock so that it didn’t pull my pants even tighter.
While I wanted to rip the clothes from her supple body right then and there, I knew Laurie wasn’t necessarily ready to be taken by me again, no matter how much she wanted it physically.
I had to take my time.
“How’s this?” she asked, leading me to a room in the basement.
“Now, this is better,” I said. Arcade machines of all types covered the back and halfway up the side walls, while the middle of the room was focused on a large, ornate pool table.
Air hockey and ping pong sat to the left, while on the right was a poker table and a fully stocked bar in the front corner.
“Boys and their toys,” Laurie muttered, but she immediately beelined to a beautifully restored Miss Pacman and began to play. “So, let’s talk.”
“What would you like to talk about? Baby names?” I teased.
“What’s wrong with that? Have you never thought of it?”
“No,” I admitted honestly. “I’ve generally never thought that far ahead.”
I didn’t bother sharing why that was. Laurie didn’t need to know the harsh brutality of the world I’d grown up in. Not yet, at least. There would come a time when that was appropriate, but it wasn’t then.
“Oh,” she said, sounding a bit disappointed.
“Don’t you think it’s, I don’t know, a bit early?” I asked. “We don’t know anything about the baby or its gender.”
“I know,” Laurie said, slapping at the controls as she died. “Damn. But, Rip, I’m going to enjoy every moment of this pregnancy. I’m not going to go through it being all calm and boring about it.”
I chuckled. “I wouldn’t ask you to.”
“I have to find a doctor, too. Another thing to add to the list,” she said, licking her lips. “I’m going to have some water. You want a glass?”
“Would love one,” I said, hiding a smile as she went to the bar and poured two glasses from the tap.
“I’ve been so thirsty the past week. It must be the pregnancy, but holy,” she muttered, draining her glass.
I hid a smile. There was a rather obvious reason why she was so thirsty, but that would have to wait. For now, I wanted her to enjoy the pregnancy and the fact she was having a baby.
Not just her. You are, too. This is your child. Your heir.
That sank home, and I paused halfway through my glass.
Laurie noted that. “Everything okay?”
I nodded. “Yes. Fine,” I said, smiling at her. “Just … a momentary hitting-home of the fact that I’m going to be a father.”
My heir. I’d never thought about having children that way before. I had long known I wanted to be a father. But now it was happening, and the reality was starting to set in. The child would be not only my offspring but also the heir to the Tidal throne.
I couldn’t wait too long to tell Laurie the truth about the child she carried.
It would be quite the shock and adjustment, I was sure, and the farther along she was, the more the shock ran a risk of harming the baby.
Our baby. But I didn’t want to spoil the current mood either.
She was so happy, and I longed to preserve that feeling for her.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, reaching out to lay a hand on my arm.
I swallowed at the spark that zipped through me at her touch. Every time, without fail, my body surged to life from her simplest touch.
“Yes,” I said, reassuring her. “Lots to process. Lots. All good. Just mindset changes. I will admit I’d expected to be with my mate and that our children would be planned. I hold no regrets, I assure you. I just have to change my mindset.”
Laurie smiled softly. “I understand. I thought I’d be married, with a wedding, white dress, a day all about me, that sort of thing.
Then we’d spend some time being husband and wife.
Then we’d try for kids. Very traditional and stereotypical, I know, but I was okay with that. Now, I’m going to be okay with this.”
I smiled. “I agree.”
“Maybe I’ll end up being your mate, and you’ll be my husband,” she said with a wink. “Who knows.”
“I would like that.”
I longed to tell her the truth. That I knew she was my mate, the one woman I would be with for the rest of my life. The words were there, on the tip of my tongue, ready to spill from my lips if I would just let them.
But I held back. I didn’t like keeping secrets from Laurie, but I wanted to break it to her bit by bit so that she wasn’t overwhelmed. It was not the time for that. We needed to know one another better first. Then I could reveal the truth about what I was, where I was from, and all that.
I glanced out the window, set high into the wall. An outdoor light let me see the snow as it fell heavily. Fighting back a grimace, I forced myself to accept that I would have to stay the night.
Not all of me was upset over that, of course. More time spent with my mate was never a bad thing. Besides, she was with child. Instincts told me never to leave her side now. I should be there to provide for her every need so that she had nothing to focus on but growing our baby.
Instinctively, I knew that if Laurie ever found out I had that thought, she would eviscerate me with words. She wasn’t helpless, and if I treated her as such, I would do nothing but push her away from me.
However, as much as I needed to be with Laurie, I was torn.
Rip, the dragon, knew his place was with his mate and babe.
Prince-Heir Riptide, leader of the Tidal Clan, was needed back at the Tidal Bastion, where I could lead our people properly.
It was high season for incursions, and I wasn’t sure how long I could be safely on Earth.
I might have already been there too long. The not knowing was killing me.
I had to fight the urge to sweep Laurie from her feet and take her with me to my home. It wouldn’t go over well, I knew, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. The longer I spent with her, the more my dragon instincts took over.
She was my mate. My woman. She belonged to me, and I belonged to her, and she should know that, consequences be damned. I should take the prize and deal with anyone who got in my way, like her ex, in the worst of ways.
Mine.
I growled, trying to fight down the possessive nature rising inside me.
“Rip?” Laurie asked, looking at me askance. “What was that for?”
“I’m fighting a mental battle right now,” I rumbled, locking eyes with her, seeing her pupils widen slightly at my tone.
“About what?” she asked, a little out of breath all of a sudden.
“Whether or not to kiss you and take you right here, right now,” I said bluntly, standing tall over her, letting my need for her be known.
“Oh,” she squeaked without backing away. “And what side is currently winning?”
“Not the side that will keep me in control,” I ground out, taking a step toward her.
She backed up, and I advanced.
“And what if you lose control?” she asked, still staring at me, taking another step back.
Her legs were stopped by the pool table.
“Last time that happened,” I said, stepping into her personal space, looming over her, “you ended up pregnant.”
“Oh.”
“But since that can’t happen a second time,” I continued. “All that’s likely to happen is a lot of orgasms for you.”
Laurie licked her lips, steadying herself with both hands on the edge of the pool table. Her position had the joint effect of thrusting her chest toward me and leaving her completely and totally vulnerable.
“That, um,” she stammered, “that doesn’t sound all that horrible.”
“Good,” I said, wrapping my fingers around her jaw.
She gasped but didn’t fight. Instead, she moved her head to the side, exposing the soft flesh of her throat.
“Very good,” I murmured, leaning in to run my tongue along her vein and kiss my way back up.
Laurie had no verbal response. I didn’t need one.